THE SPATIAL CONTEXT OF PERI-ABANDONMENT DEPOSITS AT CAHAL PECH

As we noted in the Introduction, it was during initial excavation of Plaza A that we began to document peri-abandonment deposits and activities at Cahal Pech. These deposits were particularly concentrated on the flanks of the stairside outsets of Structures A2 and A3, in the northeast corner of Plaza A where Structures A2 and A3 adjoined, inside the central room of Structure A3, and within a narrow alleyway and vaulted tunnel that exit Plaza A to the northwest and southeast (Figure 3). Measuring approximately 2 × 5 m, the deposit to the west of the stairside outset of Structure A3 was the largest deposit recorded at the site (Figure 4). The size of the other deposits averaged about 2 × 4 m, except in the alleyways and vaulted tunnels where they were constricted by the narrow width of these passages. The contextual distribution of the Plaza A deposits and their associated cultural remains suggest that they were likely placed in the various locations within the courtyard during multiple events, all dating to the Terminal Classic period. Our investigations further revealed that the peri-abandonment cultural remains in Plaza A were generally deposited above a thin layer of matrix, which had accumulated on top of the last plastered surface of Plaza A sometime after the buildings had begun to fall into disrepair (Figure 5). This matrix consisted predominantly of soil sometimes interspersed between collapsed architectural debris such as cut stones that once formed part of the walls and roofs of Structures A2 and A3.

Figure 5.

Partly excavated peri-abandonment deposit in front of Cahal Pech Structure A3. Photograph by Awe.

Intrusive Burial in Structure A3

Inside a bench within the central room of Structure A3, we discovered an intrusive burial that contained the remains of a child approximately seven to nine years of age at the time of death (Figure 6). It was apparent that the Maya had cut into the bench to deposit the child's body and associated grave goods. They subsequently filled the cavity with dirt to the level of the bench's original plastered surface, though the surface of the bench was never resealed with a new plaster surface. Instead, two large limestone slabs, which may have fallen off or were removed from the vaulted roof of Structure A3, were placed over the section of the bench that had been cut through for the burial. In association with the child's remains, we recovered three ocarinas, two flutes, and four Spanish Lookout-phase (ca. a.d. 700–900) ceramic vessels, including an imitation slateware vase. We submitted samples of the skeletal remains for accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) ¹⁴C dating but, due to extensive leaching of calcium carbonate from the surrounding matrix, the remaining bone collagen did not meet quality control standards for dating. In spite of the failed ¹⁴C dating attempts, the relative date of the grave goods, the intrusive nature of the burial, and the fact that the surface of the bench was not re-plastered after the grave had been filled, all suggested a Terminal Classic date (ca. a.d. 750–900) for the burial.

Figure 6.

Intrusive child burial in bench of Structure A3. Photograph by Awe.

Plaza A Deposits

The Plaza A peri-abandonment deposits were mostly spread across the base of Structures A2 and A3, but concentrated in four loci. Two of these were located on the flanks of the stairside outset of Structure A3, one was located on the northern flank of the Structure A2 stairside outset, and the fourth area was located where Structures A2 and A3 join together (Figures 2 and 3). The deposits ranged between 20 to 30 centimeters in depth. Our microstratigraphic excavations indicated that, in most cases, there was a 0.5 to 2 centimeter layer of dirt between the last plaza floor and the bottommost layer of deposits. Cultural remains were usually evenly distributed above floor level, and in between cut stones that had collapsed from the walls of the two buildings. The only instances where we sometimes found deposits sitting directly on the terminal plaza surface were in those areas where plaster had not peeled off the walls, where walls or stairside outsets had not collapsed, or in those areas furthest away from the sides of buildings. This stratigraphy clearly indicated that most of the peri-abandonment cultural remains were deposited sometime after the buildings were no longer being maintained, and during or after the time that they had begun to crumble and fall apart.

Ceramic remains (Tables 1 and 2), particularly fragmented bowls, dishes, and jars, represented the dominant (n = 11,528) artifact type in the cultural assemblage of the Plaza A peri-abandonment deposits. Other ceramic remains included fragments of censers (n = 12), ocarinas/figurines (n = 13), flutes (n = 1), drums (n = 4), and spindle whorls (n = 2). Analysis of the ceramic remains by Aimers and Awe (Reference Aimers and Awe2020) noted that the assemblage consists predominantly of Terminal Classic Spanish Lookout ceramic types (Gifford Reference Gifford1976:225–288) and that they share typological and chronological similarities with the ceramic artifacts recovered with the intrusive child burial in the bench of Structure A3. Although many sherds in this deposit were large and well-preserved, only a small number of the ceramic vessels were partly reconstructable. The ocarinas and figurines, which predominantly share stylistic parallels with Jaina-type figurines, reflect a somewhat similar pattern. All but one of the 13 ocarinas/figurines were incomplete, with the majority composed of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic effigies with their heads broken off (i.e., “decapitated”), which may imply ritual termination. One of the figurine heads is a solid, hand-modeled Middle Preclassic (900–300 b.c.) Savana Orange specimen. The presence of this sole Preclassic figurine head among a Terminal Classic assemblage suggests that it was likely recovered from an earlier context at the site, curated for some time, and redeposited with the Terminal Classic specimens in the Plaza A deposits (Newman Reference Newman2015, Reference Newman2018).

Table 1.

Cultural remains recovered in peri-abandonment deposits at Cahal Pech, including Plaza A, Structures A1/A2 alleyway, Plaza B, and Plaza G. “Y” indicates evidence for burning activity.

Table 2.

Cultural remains present in peri-abandonment deposits at sites in the Belize Valley: Cahal Pech (CHP), Baking Pot (BKP), Lower Dover (LWD), Xunantunich (XUN), Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM), Barton Creek Cave (BCC), Pook's Hill (PKH), Aguacate Uno (ACU). “Y” indicates presence of cultural remain type; “N” represents absence of cultural remain type.

Non-ceramic cultural remains in the Plaza A deposits were represented by a variety of lithic and ground stone artifacts, including 23 bifaces, 326 chert nodules and flakes, 31 obsidian blade fragments, 10 mano and metate fragments, six limestone spindle whorls, plus a fragmented jadeite pendant and a jadeite adorno (Audet Reference Audet2006:155–160). The pendant was part of an anthropomorphic effigy with part of the face, large nose, two closed eyes, and top knot still preserved. Animal remains (n = 282) included bones of deer, feline, a variety of bird and smaller mammals, as well as both marine shell and freshwater snails. There were also seven small fragments of human bone, plus high frequencies of charcoal providing evidence of burning in some areas of the deposits.

The contextual distribution of the 23 complete bifaces was particularly interesting as seven of them were found close together on the north flank of the Structure A2 stairside outset, nine were scattered in the northeast corner of Plaza A, and the other seven were to the west of the Structure A3 stairside outset. In their study of the bifaces, Stemp and Awe (Reference Stemp and Awe2020) observed that the contextual and numerical distribution of the bifaces are ideologically significant because the numbers seven and nine are often associated with celestial and underworld realms in Maya cosmology (Miller and Taube Reference Miller and Taube1993:151–152). We should also note that usewear analysis of the bifaces is consistent with use as projectiles. This characteristic is similar to that noted for bifaces dredged from the cenote at Chichen Itza (Sheets et al. Reference Sheets, Ladd, Bathgate and Coggins1992).

In 2013, Kolias (Reference Kolias, Hoggarth and Awe2015) excavated another peri-abandonment deposit in an alleyway or corridor separating Structure A2 and Structure A1. This deposit contained an assemblage of cultural remains similar to those found in the Plaza A deposits, including 6,398 potsherds, a ceramic spindle whorl, 18 obsidian blade fragments, two bifaces, and evidence of burning.

Terminal Classic Peri-Abandonment Deposits and Activities in Plazas B, G, H, and F, and in the Zopilote Group at Cahal Pech

Following the end of the TDP, subsequent investigations at Cahal Pech uncovered additional peri-abandonment deposits in Plazas B and G (Figure 2), and at a causeway termini complex known as the Zopilote Group (Figure 7). We also recovered considerable evidence for other types of Terminal Classic (ca. a.d. 750–900) peri-abandonment activities in Plazas B, C, and H in the site core (Figure 2). Unlike the deposits, which generally consist of cultural remains that were predominantly placed just above plaza and building surfaces, the other types of peri-abandonment activities at Cahal Pech include intrusive burials, the scavenging or harvesting of limestone blocks for reuse in various forms of architecture, and the removal and repositioning of stone monuments.

Figure 7.

Location of the Zopilote Group in the Cahal Pech settlement. Map by Ebert.

The peri-abandonment deposit in Plaza B was associated with Structure B3, the southern mound of the site's eastern triadic shrine or “E-Group” (Awe et al. Reference Awe, Hoggarth, Aimers, Freidel, Chase, Dowd and Murdock2017b). This deposit extended southward from the front of the structure's central stairway, and was especially concentrated along the southwestern flank of the stairside outset. The cultural remains in the Structure B3 deposit contained materials similar to those in Plaza A (Table 1), including nine fragments of human remains. An AMS ¹⁴C date on a fragment of human bone produced a date of cal a.d. 680–770 (Ebert et al. Reference Ebert, Hoggarth, Culleton, Awe and Kennett2019).

The peri-abandonment deposit in Plaza G was located between the southern stairside outset of Structure G2 and the north wall of Structure G1 (Griffith Reference Griffith, Hoggarth and Awe2014; Stanchly Reference Stanchly, Hoggarth and Awe2014; Peniche May and Beardall Reference Peniche May, Beardall, Hoggarth and Awe2015). The deposit in Plaza G contained 6,759 fragments of broken pottery, 80 fragments of animal remains, a carved bone hair pin, 10 marine shell beads, five chert bifaces/points, 45 chert flakes, one spindle whorl, and three fragments of grinding stones. Unlike the deposits in Plaza A, the Plaza G deposits were mostly located on the surface of the last plaza floor, but this could reflect the fact that Structure G2 is a relatively low platform that had not fallen apart as readily as other larger structures in the site core. Interestingly, the ceramic assemblage in the Plaza G deposits does not include some of the types and formal modes present in Plaza A, perhaps suggesting that the former may date slightly earlier than those of Plaza A (Aimers and Awe Reference Aimers and Awe2020). In summary, the peri-abandonment deposits associated with both Structure B3 and Structure G2 were similar in context and, to some degree, similar in content with those from Plaza A. They also shared a similar stratigraphic and depositional pattern to that observed in Plaza A. These shared characteristics, particularly the contemporaneity of the contexts, reinforces our interpretation that the Maya deposited these cultural remains sometime after, or during, the time that the site had begun to fall into disrepair.

The Zopilote terminus group is located south of the Cahal Pech site core (Figure 7), and is connected to the latter via a 750-m long causeway (or sacbe). At the end of the sacbe rises an 11-m high pyramid and a smaller structure just north of the causeway. Following the discovery and partial excavation of a peri-abandonment deposit at the Zopilote Group in 2015 (Ebert and Fox Reference Ebert, Fox, Hoggarth and Awe2016), the feature was excavated further in 2016 by Fox (Reference Fox2018). The latter investigation uncovered a small section of the peri-abandonment deposit at the base of Structure 2, but noted that the overall composition of the Zopilote deposit, or of the area sampled, was somewhat different from those in the site core. The Zopilote remains (Table 1) contained considerable evidence for the burning of organic material, a total of 371 chert flakes, five obsidian blades, a fragment of a slate wrench, two mano and metate fragments, four chert bifaces, and 36,662 ceramic fragments predominantly composed of bowl, jar, and censer fragments. Fox's (Reference Fox2018) excavation, however, recovered no animal or human remains. The absence of the human and animal remains may simply reflect a sample bias for, unlike the deposits in the site core, the deposit at the Zopilote Group was only partially (20 percent) excavated (Ebert and Fox Reference Ebert, Fox, Hoggarth and Awe2016; Fox Reference Fox2018). Alternatively, differences between the two assemblages could represent differences in the types of peri-abandonment activities that were conducted at different loci of the site core. Besides these differences, Fox (Reference Fox2018) notes that the deposits at Zopilote were layered and separated by thin soil lenses, indicating that the assemblage was likely associated with multiple events over an extended period of time during the Terminal Classic period.

EVIDENCE FOR OTHER PERI-ABANDONMENT ACTIVITIES AT CAHAL PECH

In our above discussion of the peri-abandonment deposits in Plaza A, we noted that we also uncovered an intrusive child burial within a bench in Structure A3. Outside of Plaza A, more than 30 years of investigations at Cahal Pech have also recorded evidence for other types of Terminal Classic peri-abandonment activities on Structures B1 and B4, and in Plazas C and G (Figure 2; Awe Reference Awe1992, Reference Awe2013; Awe et al. Reference Awe, Ebert, Friewald and Green2017a, Reference Awe, Hoggarth, Aimers, Freidel, Chase, Dowd and Murdock2017b; Burke et al. Reference Burke, Wisner, Tappan, Wilson, Stanchly, Ebert, Burke, Hoggarth and Awe2017). On Structure B1, the central pyramid of the eastern triadic shrine or “E-Group,” we recovered Terminal Classic remains in a special deposit and in a burial at the summit of the structure. The special deposit was discovered along the primary axis of Structure B1, a few centimeters below the modern humus surface. The deposit lay in a cavity 60 × 45 cm north-south and was 26 cm thick (Ishihara-Brito et al. Reference Ishihara-Brito, Can, Awe, Hoggarth, Guerra and Awe2013:75–70). It contained two laurel leaf blades of fine-quality chert, with an upside-down skull placed on top of them. Around the skull were several disarticulated fragments of human bone that were capped by a bed of eroded potsherds and a large fragment of a Spanish Lookout ceramic complex Mount Maloney Black bowl. The stratigraphic context of the deposit indicates that a section of the terminal phase stairway of Structure B1 had been removed prior to the placement of the deposit. After the deposit had been placed in the cavity, the cultural remains were covered with dirt, but the cut stones were discarded, and the stairway was not repaired.

The other Terminal Classic feature on Structure B1 consisted of an intrusive burial (BU:B1-1) that was actually excavated by Peter Schmidt in 1969 (Awe Reference Awe1992, Reference Awe2008, Reference Awe2013; Awe et al. Reference Awe, Ebert, Friewald and Green2017a). Schmidt never published this work, but his notes, which are archived in the Belize Institute of Archaeology, mention that the intrusive burial contained the remains of an adult female and five ceramic vessels. Two of the vessels, both modeled censers diagnostic of the Terminal Classic period, share close affinity to Cayo Unslipped ceramics from the Belize Valley, and with the Cambio Ceramic Group from the Peten (Adams Reference Adams1971:57; Gifford Reference Gifford1976:276–286; Sabloff Reference Sabloff and Patrick Culbert1973, Reference Sabloff1975:114–116). The censers are also identical to another that we found in a large Terminal Classic tomb in Plaza H (see the following description of tomb contents for details; Aimers and Awe Reference Aimers and Awe2020). The other vessels in the Structure B1 intrusive burial included three Terminal Classic, Spanish Lookout-phase bowls.

Terminal Classic peri-abandonment activity in Structure B4 is represented by two intrusive burials, BU:B4-1 and BU:B4-2, that we uncovered at the summit of this nondomestic structure. Burial 2 (BU:B4-2) contained the remains of a child in fetal position with no grave goods. Burial 1 (BU:B4-1) was a shallow crypt, bordered by a single line of cut stones, that contained an adult male in extended position and head to the south (Awe Reference Awe1992; Awe et al. Reference Awe, Ebert, Friewald and Green2017a). The only grave good accompanying BU:B4-1 was a tall polychrome cylinder vase from the Cabrito Cream-polychrome ceramic system (Aimers et al. Reference Aimers, LeCount and Awe2019). More significant, however, is the fact that this vase is practically an exact duplicate of a locally made vase found in the Structure H1 tomb described below. AMS ¹⁴C analyses of the human remains from BU:B4-1 and BU:B4-2 yielded dates of cal a.d. 680–770 and cal a.d. 670–770, respectively (Ebert Reference Ebert2017; Ebert et al. Reference Ebert, Hoggarth, Culleton, Awe and Kennett2019). These dates clearly confirm the two burials are contemporaneous, that they are coeval with other peri-abandonment activity at Cahal Pech (e.g., the intrusive child burial in Plaza A), and that they are associated with the final phase of occupation at the site.

In Plazas C and H, we recorded evidence for Terminal Classic peri-abandonment activity in Structures C2 and C6, and Structures H1 and H2. In Plaza C, we found a circle of cut stones in the center of the courtyard and aligned with the primary axes of Structures B1 and C1 (Awe Reference Awe1992). The center of the circle appeared to have been burnt, and it is likely that the stones were removed from buildings in the courtyard that were no longer in use. At Cahal Pech, the removal and reuse of facing stones from buildings is most evident on Structure C6 at the south end of Plaza C. When we excavated this building in 2006, we found that almost the entire northern façade of the structure had been removed. The facing stones were then used to construct a low wall that extended 5.2 m westward from the northwestern corner of C6, then turned northward at right angle and extended all the way to the southeastern corner of Structure B1. While some researchers might interpret this low wall as serving defensive purposes, it is more likely that it functioned like the albaradas in the Yucatan; that is, to demarcate or enclose living space.

Another Terminal Classic activity that we recorded in Plaza C was the movement and repositioning of monuments. At the summit of Structure C6, and just northeast of Structure B1, for example, we found fragments of altars that had been removed from their original location and redeposited in their present location. We also found large fragments of two stelae between Structure C6 and the eastern ball court. The butts of these monuments are located in Plaza B, suggesting that the fragments in Plaza C were removed from their original location in Plaza B.

On Structure C2, we uncovered a shallow intrusive grave (BU:C2-1), just a few centimeters below modern ground surface. The grave, which had penetrated the terminal floor of the building, contained the disarticulated and incomplete remains of a child and a few potsherds (Awe and Schwanke Reference Awe, Schwanke, Helmke and Awe2006). AMS ¹⁴C dating of the human remains produced a date of cal a.d. 775–890 (Ebert Reference Ebert2017; Ebert et al. Reference Ebert, Hoggarth, Culleton, Awe and Kennett2019). This date overlaps with an AMS ¹⁴C date of 710–875 cal a.d. from deer bone in those from the Structure H1 tomb, and with the date acquired from the human remains in the peri-abandonment deposit associated with Structure B3. They do, however, postdate the intrusive burials in Structure B4, and thus could be associated with activities that slightly postdate those in Plazas A, B, and H.

Plaza H is a small, nondescript courtyard in the northeastern corner of the Cahal Pech site core. In addition to a small peri-abandonment deposit in Plaza H, we recovered considerable evidence that: (1) this courtyard was occupied at the same time that the peri-abandonment deposits were being placed in Plazas A and B; and (2) that its use was coeval with the intrusive burials and with peri-abandonment activities described above for Plazas A, B, C, and G. This observation is based on the overlapping AMS ¹⁴C dates of human and animal remains in the tomb and other deposits, on the modal and typological similarities between the ceramics from the peri-abandonment deposits with those from the tomb in Plaza H, and by 30 years of data collected by the horizontal excavation of approximately 80 percent of the architecture in the Cahal Pech site core. The latter type of exposure is rare at most of the lowland Maya sites where peri-abandonment deposits have been found. We believe that the limited exposure of site core architecture can potentially skew observations, making it appear that so-called problematic deposits are the final gasps of rapidly abandoning populations rather than residues of activities associated with continued, though limited, use and habitation of the site in question. This is precisely the picture that was unveiled by our investigations in Plaza H.

Several seasons of excavations in Plaza H revealed that this epicentral courtyard was still occupied, albeit to a limited degree, when most of the peri-abandonment deposits and activities were taking place in the Cahal Pech site core. The coeval nature of these activities is suggested by several lines of evidence, including construction activity associated with the last phase of occupation on both Structures H1 and H2, by occupational debris in the courtyard, especially chert debitage and a midden containing Mount Maloney Black pottery, and by BU:H1-1, constructed with cut stones removed from earlier Classic period buildings (Awe Reference Awe2013; Douglas and Brown Reference Douglas, Brown, Hoggarth and Awe2014, Reference Douglas, Brown, Hoggarth and Awe2016; Douglas et al. Reference Douglas, Brown and Awe2015; Johannesen Reference Johannesen2019; Santasilia Reference Santasilia, Hoggarth, Guerra and Awe2012).

Unlike the earlier and typical Classic period architecture in the site core, the Terminal Classic architecture in Plaza H consist of low building platforms that were mostly constructed of large and crudely shaped boulders (Figure 8). Structure H1/1st is the largest of these buildings. It consists of an L-shaped platform that likely supported a perishable superstructure and, was built directly over an earlier (H1/2nd) Late Classic building. At some time during its short period of occupation, the Terminal Classic inhabitants of the L-shaped Structure H1/1st platform built a large tomb beneath the floor of the eastern section of the building.

Figure 8.

Terminal Classic peri-abandonment buildings constructed above Late Classic architecture in Plaza H, Cahal Pech. Photograph by Awe.

The Structure H1 tomb (BU:H1-1) was constructed with cut stones that were pillaged from earlier Classic-period architecture, and contained the remains of a single adult male with head to the south orientation and in extended position (Awe Reference Awe2013). Associated with the burial were a variety of grave goods, including 13 ceramic vessels (Aimers et al. Reference Aimers, LeCount and Awe2019; Aimers and Awe Reference Aimers and Awe2020), approximately 24 complete and fragmented deer bone tubes, a dog tooth necklace made with the teeth of at least 52 juvenile dogs, five obsidian blades, a Maize God effigy jadeite pendant, two jadeite ear flares, two jadeite beads, one modified conch shell, and one shell bead. At the northern end of the chamber were the remains of a small feline, possibly those of an ocelot.

The ceramic vessels are all diagnostic of the Terminal Classic period, a temporal assignment supported by an AMS ¹⁴C date of cal a.d. 710–875 acquired from a fragment of one of the deer bone tubes (Ebert et al. Reference Ebert, Hoggarth, Culleton, Awe and Kennett2019). Particularly significant to this study is the fact that the ¹⁴C date from the tomb overlaps with several of the ¹⁴C dates associated with the other peri-abandonment deposits and intrusive burials described in this paper. Equally important is that several of the ceramic vessels in the tomb are identical to other vessels in three of the aforementioned intrusive burials in Plazas A and B, and with pottery recovered in the peri-abandonment deposits at the site. A lidded censer (excavated as Vessels 3 and 7) from the Structure H1 tomb, for example, is identical to the two anthropomorphic censers discovered by Schmidt in the intrusive female burial (BU:B1-1) at the summit of Structure B1 (Figure 9). Vessel 4, a small, cream-slipped pedestal vase, in the Structure H1 tomb is also similar to the small vase found with the intrusive child burial (BU-A3-1) in Structure A3 in Plaza A (Aimers and Awe Reference Aimers and Awe2020). Vessel 2, a Cabrito Cream polychrome vase thought to be made in the Belize Valley based on neutron activation analysis by Reents and Bishop (Dorie Reents, personal communication 2018) is identical to the single vase found with the intrusive burial (BU:B4-1) in Structure B4 (Aimers and Awe Reference Aimers and Awe2020). What is particularly significant here is that these data collectively indicate that Plaza H was still occupied when the peri-abandonment deposits in Plazas A, B, and G, the H1 tomb, and the intrusive burials were being deposited across the site core of Cahal Pech.

Figure 9.

Censers from intrusive burials in (a and b) Structure B1 and (c) Structure H1 Tomb. Photograph by Awe.

RESUMEN

Investigaciones arqueológicas realizadas por el Proyecto BVAR en Cahal Pech, en el Valle de Belice, descubrieron varios depósitos y áreas de actividad peri-abandono del clásico terminal. Estos depósitos contienen un conjunto rico y diverso de restos culturales que fueron recuperados arriba de y entre elementos arquitectónicos colapsados, asociados a evidencias de actividades de exposición al fuego. En el pasado, los arqueólogos generalmente han interpretado conjuntos similares como “depósitos problemáticos,” desechos “de facto,” con terminación de edificios y profanación, o como evidencia de abandono rápido durante la violenta destrucción de estas ciudades antiguas. Aquí se argumenta que las excavaciones microestratigráficas y el análisis contextual de los datos presentados apoyan de manera limitada estas explicaciones. De manera alternativa, sugerimos que estos depósitos estaban probablemente asociados a rituales peri-abandono que fueron llevados a cabo por pequeñas poblaciones remanentes en Cahal Pech, o por pequeños grupos que continuaron habitando en la periferia del sitio durante las últimas décadas del periodo clásico terminal.